5TH ANNIVERSARY NATIONAL MENTAL HEALTH AWARDS
Category: Community Capacity Award Winner: L’ABRI EN VILLE Montréal, Que.
labrienville.ca
THE RESTORATIVE POWER OF COMMUNITY
BACKGROUND
Housing is a critical factor in the quality of people’s lives. Between one-quarter and one-half of all people who are homeless in Canada — tens of thousands of men and women in total — are believed to live with mental illness, a reality that is often a key factor in their being homeless in the first place.
In the 1980s, it seemed to many people in Montréal, Que., that some of their city’s streets had become a permanent home for people living with mental health problems and illnesses. It was painfully obvious that intervention was necessary to help these men and women find stable shelter that could support their recovery. It was also apparent that the actions of individual, ordinary people could make a profound difference in the lives of homeless people experiencing mental health challenges.
OVERVIEW
A group of downtown Montréal faith communities formed the InterChurch Social Service Planning Committee in 1984 to help address the serious social problems in the heart of the city.
Shelagh Coinner, the founder of a project called CARE (Create a Rehabilitative Environment) attended one of the group’s meetings, and described a housing and support model based on creating a community for people living with a mental illness. The approach fused the normalcy of everyday life with the reinforcements that those living with a mental illness required, and was the guiding light for the creation of L’Abri en Ville.
Launched and incorporated in 1991, the purpose of L’Abri en Ville — which means “shelter in the city”
— is simple and straightforward: to provide stable homes and create authentic community for adults diagnosed with a major mental illness. Three individuals living with mental illness reside together in a three-bedroom apartment, assisted by a group of volunteers who act as a support team and also as friends. Residents also have access to their own medical supports (such as a psychiatrist, social worker or a general practitioner) who can provide additional assistance in the event of need.
L’Abri en Ville opened its first apartment in 1991. It subsequently opened nine additional apartments over the next decade in the residential neighbourhoods of Montréal’s west end. Each new apartment was sponsored by a faith community, which offered financial support and volunteers who became the residents’ circle of friends. (While churches and synagogues have played a prominent role in L’Abri’s evolution, there has never been any religious requirements of the residents who are accepted into this unique community.)
In 2011, 30 adults with a serious mental illness were living in 10 apartments in various Montréal neighbourhoods, supported by three coordinators and 60 volunteers.
At L’Abri en Ville’s heart is the primacy of humanity, which creates a foundation for friendship. While volunteers do not live in the same apartments as residents, there is very little separation between the individuals with mental health issues and the volunteers.
“It evolves from being ‘helper’ and ‘helpee’ to being more of a friendship,” explains board member Eleanor Beattie. “It is not a medical relationship, it is a social relationship. This is very different.”
Volunteers regularly visit residents on a planned basis, and this camaraderie is made stronger through meals at the homes of volunteers, shared outings and casual conversation.
“My training had emphasized detecting and treating illness and symptoms, but it doesn’t take long to realize that this view, the medical-psychiatric perspective, needs to be completed where it falls off,” adds Dr. Marc Laporta of McGill University Health Centre, and a member of the L’Abri en Ville Advisory Council. “L’Abri en Ville focuses on resiliency, on recovery, on the human spirit in us that wants to take over again. L’Abri is essentially about people working together, believing in each other, thriving on the best human qualities that save us from feeling detached or alienated.”
Residents come from a variety of backgrounds and, in many cases, have been in the workforce, but have to take a leave of absence or quit because of the severity of their mental illness. “They just happen to be coping with something that prevents them from being fully in the workforce, but that doesn’t prevent them from being fully part of society,” explains board member Audrey Bean.
L’Abri en Ville’s leadership group comprises a 15-member volunteer Board of Directors, a five-
member volunteer Advisory Council chosen by the Board to represent a variety of perspectives, and three paid coordinators, who are L’Abri en Ville staff. Members of the board, which meets monthly, are drawn from various sectors of the community. Volunteers, many from faith communities, are primarily members of the apartment teams that support the residents. Coordinators are experienced in community mental health services, and responsible for creating and delivering the program. They also network with agencies offering services for people living with mental illness, maintain contact with the medical team that follows each resident, and provide individual residents with tailored support as needed.
Initial funding to launch L’Abri en Ville was provided by the InterChurch Social Service Planning Committee, the Foundation of Catholic Community Services (which provided office space and the advice of a social worker), the Quebec government, and Mme Edith Low-Beer, a respected mental health advocate who both donated to and volunteered with the project. Over the years, donors and sponsors including individuals, foundations, the provincial government, businesses, faith communities and service organizations have offered financial and in-kind support. Annual contributions from the Edith Low-Beer Foundation and a grant from the Québec Ministry of Health and Social Services help provide for annual operating costs of just over $200,000.
A number of faith communities continue to support L’Abri en Ville in different ways, including providing home essentials such as furniture and inviting the community to speak to their members about mental illness.
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Because members of the InterChurch Social Service Planning Committee all were members of Montréal faith communities, the group had access to both potential volunteers and financial support. They were also instrumental in helping L’Abri en Ville develop the required professional, administrative and support services needed for start-up. Catholic Community Services (CCS), for
example, offered the professional advice of social workers and also physical space for the office during the first year.
One individual was dedicated to establishing L’Abri en Ville, with a wide group of ongoing support, which enabled the initiative to move forward quickly.
INNOVATION
Early in development, it quickly became apparent that the L’Abri en Ville model was distinct and innovative — that the reciprocity between residents and volunteers, the friendship, was not usually seen in the provision of mental health care services. So, too, was the engagement of a large number of board members who also serve as apartment volunteers. “While there may be a sense of
disconnect in other organizations, at L’Abri there is not,” says L’Abri en Ville Lead Coordinator Marlo Turner Richie. “There is a high level of interaction across the organization.”
And while many other group homes in Montréal’s downtown area have limits on how long people can reside in the homes, L’Abri en Ville does not. This means it fills a gap and plays a needed role in the recovery process. With no limit on how long residents can live in the community, L’Abri is an important option for those whose lives will be enriched by a secure home and the warmth of social support and friendship.
Partnerships are a key component of the group’s success and its survival. Strong bonds were created with the psychiatric community, and L’Abri coordinators network with social workers, hospitals and other community organizations that may know of men and women in need of supportive housing.
MAKING AN IMPACT
Because L’Abri en Ville does not restrict the time a resident can remain in an apartment, about 4–5 places become vacant each year, and since 1991 a total of 125 people have taken part in the initiative.
Some residents have remained in the dedicated apartments for more than 15 years, as their recovery journey progresses and their need for various types of support changes. “Over time, people become more and more able, their recovery is stronger, and we may act as a stepping stone for them to go off on their own or with other friends,” Audrey Bean notes.
Limiting the growth of the L’Abri en Ville family, along with financial support from the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation, has enabled the group to help other communities interested in adopting the L’Abri model. Three new projects have been launched over the past decade and are now “sister groups” within the L’Abri network: Les toits d’Émile in Châteauguay, Que. (2002); Our Harbour in Saint- Lambert, Que. (2004); and, Ancoura in Ottawa, Ont. (2007). Collectively, these projects involve a total of 134 residents and volunteers.
In disseminating the model, members of L’Abri en Ville visited each community to help with training and to share their experience. The network members collaborate in various ways, including special workshops as needed, coordinators’ gatherings, attending annual camp together and holding a learning workshop every two years at which volunteers, staff, residents and board members from the four groups share experiences and new ideas.
Funding through a Government of Canada Human Resources and Skills Development Canada grant enabled the L’Abri en Ville Collaborative Dissemination Committee to create a guidebook to help inform other communities looking to support people living with mental illness. It is available at no charge in both French and English. “We now disseminate information as a network,” Bean says, adding that the publicity resulting from receiving a Mental Health Commission of Canada award “will show people across Canada that we are open for business and are ready to help them.”
LEARNINGS AND INSIGHTS
More than half of the L’Abri en Ville board members also serve as apartment team volunteers, which provides valuable insight into and understanding of what is happening on a day-to-day basis. This supports decision making, including the decision to cap the size of the project in order to maintain the warmth and engagement of a small community.
To ensure that changes never come too swiftly or disrupt the tranquil atmosphere at L’Abri en Ville, when openings become available, potential new residents are interviewed to assess their compatibility with the two other apartment residents. “The notion of community starts with the three people in the apartment,” Audrey Bean explains. “At every level we model community. They couldn’t have a harmonious community if they felt the person coming to live in their home was not a compatible person.” After being interviewed by the coordinators, a prospective resident is introduced to the current roommates. If that goes well, he or she returns to the apartment for a private
discussion. It is at this point that the decision to live together is made.
As for its size, 100 people (including residents, volunteers and coordinators) “is large enough for variety, but small enough for intimacy,” says Audrey Bean of the board’s recognition that this was optimal for the project’s success. It is important that the residents have a wide enough scope of society so they can enjoy the ordinary pleasures of privacy, but still belong to an interconnected community in which each person is significant.
Additionally, limiting the size of the L’Abri en Ville family enables the group to help other communities interested in adopting the L’Abri model [see Making an Impact for more information].
THE FUTURE
L’Abri en Ville continues to renew its organization and to deepen its response to residents’ needs, in order to further enrich the community which defines this simple model.
Renewal efforts focus on two key areas. Recognizing that volunteers and board members who have been with the initiative since its inception will eventually retire, the board is putting special attention on attracting new members to the community, both to the board and to apartment teams. It is also renewing and expanding the donor and funding base.
L’Abri en Ville will also continue to encourage and respond to inquiries from other communities interested in adopting its model of community-supported housing.
By Séamus Smyth and Cathy Nickel Mental Health Commission of Canada
